We conducted an audit of the City of Houston’s (City) Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program, which is managed by its Housing and Community Development Department (Department), as part of our strategic plan and regional goals. Our objective was to determine whether the City and its project sponsors complied with U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) HOPWA regulations, requirements and its grant agreements.…

We selected the Tarrant County Community Development Division (Tarrant County) HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) and Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) for review because the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's management expressed concerns about Tarrant County's HOME program. The objectives were to determine Tarrant County's (1) compliance with HOME regulatory requirements, (2) eligibility of HOME…

As part of our strategic plan objective to assist the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) efforts to reduce rental assistance overpayments, we audited the Housing Authority of the City of El Paso's (Authority) Housing Choice Voucher program (program). The purpose of our audit was to determine whether the Authority properly administered its overall program. Specifically, we wanted to determine whether the Authority…

We completed a financial review of the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles' (Authority) Section 8 program. We initiated the review in response to several citizen complaints alleging mismanagement, waste, and abuse of U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Section 8 funding, including the use of Section 8 funds to pay the costs of non-Section 8 programs. Our objective was to determine the validity of the above…

We audited Stonebrook Apartments Phase I and Phase II (projects) to determine whether the projects' owners complied with the regulatory agreements and U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations. Specifically, we wanted to determine whether the owners (1) made unauthorized distributions of project funds when the projects were in a non-surplus-cash position, (2) fully funded the tenant security deposit accounts, and (…

We audited the City of Los Angeles Housing Department (Department) as a result of an earlier audit of the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) affordability monitoring requirements and inspections of HOME-assisted rental units, which detected four projects that may not have been rehabilitated as intended. Our audit objective was to determine whether HOME funds were used as intended to rehabilitate the four projects and in accordance with…

We audited the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), Supplemental II Disaster Recovery program funds, administered by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA). Specifically, we wanted to determine whether TDHCA monitored its program management firm (the Firm) to ensure compliance with Federal and State regulations and to ensure costs reimbursed for the Housing…

We reviewed Allied Home Mortgage Capital Corporation (Allied), a nonsupervised loan correspondent. The objective of the review was to determine the validity of a hotline complaint that Allied operated its branches in violation of U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements. The complaint was partially valid as Allied did not fully follow HUD's branch office requirements. Allied required branch managers to personally…

We audited the use of Supportive Housing Program funds by St. Vincent de Paul Village, Inc. (St. Vincent de Paul Village), because it is a large organization receiving more than $4 million in grants annually. Our objective was to determine whether St. Vincent de Paul Village used supportive housing grants in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements and the grant agreements. St. Vincent de Paul Village…

We audited the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), Supplemental I Disaster Recovery program, administered by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (Department). We performed the audit as part of the Office of Inspector General's commitment to HUD to implement oversight of the Disaster Recovery funds to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse and duplication of…

We audited the City of San Diego's (City) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program in response to a hotline complaint alleging that the City and its Redevelopment Agency (Agency) were violating U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rules and regulations. Our main objective was to address the citizen complaint and determine whether the City administered CDBG loans issued to the Agency in accordance with HUD rules and…

Based on a congressional request, we performed an audit of the Housing Authority City of El Paso's (Authority) procurement process and board of commissioners (board) activities. Our objectives were to determine whether the Authority properly followed procurement requirements and whether the executive director was selected in accordance with applicable procedures. The Authority did not follow its procurement policies or the U. S. Department…

We reviewed the Alameda County HOME Investment Partnership Consortium's use of HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) funds to determine whether it used its allocation of HOME funds in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rules and regulations. We performed the review because there was a high risk for noncompliance due to a lack of HUD monitoring since 2003. We found that the consortium used $5.6…

As part of the Office of Inspector General's (OIG) annual audit plan and because of significant regulatory violations identified at another property owned by an entity related to Century Ebony Lake - GEAC, LLC (owner), we audited Ebony Lake Healthcare Center (project). Our objectives were to determine whether the project's owner (1) transferred funds from the project in violation of its regulatory agreement with the U. S. Department of…

We audited the Area Housing Authority of the County of Ventura based on concerns over the Authority's compliance with its annual contributions contract. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority fulfilled its Payment-in-Lieu-of-Taxes obligations for its Low Rent Public Housing program and if not, whether applicable funds were used in accordance with HUD requirements. We found that the Authority disregarded its Low Rent…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles' (Authority) Section 8 housing quality standards inspections for its Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program. The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority adequately enforced HUD's housing quality standards. Using a statistical sample of 68 units, we determined 19 units (28 percent) were in material noncompliance with HUD's housing quality standards…

We audited the Housing Authority of the County of Marin's (Authority) Section 8 funds transfer and public housing program (program) tenant rent calculations. Our objectives were to determine (1) whether the transfer of Section 8 operating reserve funds to the public housing program in fiscal year 2006 was made in compliance with HUD regulations and (2) whether the Authority calculated public housing tenant rents in accordance with HUD…

We audited Wells Fargo Mortgage (Wells Fargo) as part of our annual audit plan objective of improving the integrity of single family insurance programs. Our objective was to determine whether Wells Fargo complied with U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) origination requirements for the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program, commonly known as a reverse mortgage. Wells Fargo generally complied with HUD's reverse mortgage…

We audited the City of Los Angeles Housing Department (Department) as a result of an earlier audit of its HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) rehabilitation program, which detected problems with the Department's monitoring of HOME-assisted rental units. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Department complied with HOME affordability monitoring and inspection requirements regarding HOME-assisted rental units. We found the…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles' (Authority) Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program's financial transactions. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority properly used Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program funds in accordance with HUD rules and regulations for the benefit of its program participants. During the audit, we expanded our scope to include a review of its other HUD programs to…